Ethiopia Dry Process Uraga Yabitu Koba

The Uraga Woreda is home to some of the highest altitude coffees we buy, starting around 2100 meters above sea level and many farms topping out at 2350 meters. The village of Yabitu Koba is one of those dizzying altitudinal zones, and where this coffee was harvested. The air is thin and cool at altitude, and the coffee cherries ripen slowly as a result, leading to compact, dense coffee beans, and in the case of Yabitu Koba, small seeds (though not so small they slip through the grid drum of a Behmor). In terms of roasting, the coffee can take a lot of heat, but I didn't find it more difficult to roast than any of our other Ethiopian lots. This particular mill was recently erected by Aba Deressa, a farmer and exporter we know from the West who recently built two sites in Guji where they are processing naturals. The coffee is made up from the hundreds of small holder farmers in the surrounding region, most with less than a hectare of coffee. This is a dry process coffee, meaning the whole cherries are laid to dry with the seeds/beans still intact. It can take upwards of 4 weeks to dry a natural in this cold climate, and the resulting cup carries a nice fruit-forward appeal, and fairly balanced bittersweetness too. Dry process coffee produces more chaff than wet process, which is something to keep an eye on when roasting - especially in a Behmor. Be sure to vacuum your roaster between batches.